Lighting IS everything - egg color

[Birch Run Farm]

I wish I was a photo expert, lighting IS everything:









Same eggs!

[Mike Gilbert]

Ann, are the eggs in the last basket shown the same as the eggs in the other baskets?   How about the second basket?

[John]

lighting IS everything

Here are 3 pics of the same egg from last May.  I took them to show the crack in the shell and used 3 different flash settings.

[Birch Run Farm]

All the same eggs!  The small group in the white colander are the darkest and richest colored from the big egg basket.  The flash totally washed them out.  

If you look at the photo with the dark back gound, top view of the basket, that produced the color that I see when looking at the eggs.

Now, these photos are from just the other day.  My hatching eggs from later in the season rarely look this nice.  That is the reason I take early season photos to show buyers the difference.

The blue eggs are araucana and BW ameraucana and the dark eggs are French cuckoo marans and a few X mutts for other colors.

[Beth C]

I hate when anyone asks about egg color, because no one ever sees it the same, and I have yet to get a picture that looks like what I see, so I\'ve taken to doing this. Hopefully whatever the lighting does to the egg, it also does to the card, so someone at least has a ballpark idea...

[Cloverleaf Farm]

I hate when anyone asks about egg color, because no one ever sees it the same, and I have yet to get a picture that looks like what I see, so I\'ve taken to doing this. Hopefully whatever the lighting does to the egg, it also does to the card, so someone at least has a ballpark idea...

That\'s a great idea!  I\'ll have to do that when my cards come...  

[Birch Run Farm]

Something else to contend with is computer monitors may not \'see\' things the same way!  

That said, natural light works best if done in the shade or bounced through a snowy window.  And with most eggs, no matter the color, they seem to \'show\' better against a DARK background and not white egg cartons or white colanders!

Now, does anyone manufacture BLACK egg cartons?   :p

[Tailfeathers]

Beth, this is one great post!  It really goes to prove that a picture truly is worth a thousand words.  If you are a member of BYC, I think it would be a great idea to post this under the \"Ameraucana\" thread.

It really drives home the point and I think would help a whole lot of people when they\'re asking about egg color.  

I don\'t know if y\'all have heard but there is an auction going on BYC right now for SIX eggs and it is already up to $200.  Now in no way do I think that the person selling the eggs has tried to mislead anyone in anyway whatsoever but the picture on the auction page does show eggs very much like yours in the 1st, 3rd, and 4th pics.

Honestly, I know I\'ve improved the egg color on some of my eggs but they still don\'t make it to what I\'c call \"Robin Egg Blue\" which is a term I see a lot.

I guess I\'m just a bit concerned that there may be a lot of novices not familiar with the breed who may become disappointed and/or discouraged in the breed enough to not have them because they can\'t see what may not even be achievable.

I hope that makes sense.  Anyways, I really do think it would be a great educational and information post if you put that on BYC, Beth.

God Bless,

[Beth C]

Thanks, Royce, but I think you mean Anne\'s pics - it looks like I\'m the first poster because it\'s split from a topic I started. But I totally agree, Anne, if you would consider posting those pics over there.

I guess I\'m just a bit concerned that there may be a lot of novices not familiar with the breed who may become disappointed and/or discouraged in the breed enough to not have them because they can\'t see what may not even be achievable.

Amen! I rarely post over there, but that was me (mmfarm) who said thanks & kudos when you posted that very eloquent response to the whole cull everything with an imperfection debate. There seem to be a lot of unrealistic expectations (and a few people who fuel them) that beginners find completely demoralizing. I\'m glad I have this forum, because if I went by that one, I\'d have put all my birds in the freezer and called it a day.

And that auction just makes me shake my head. Once when I was in my teens I ask a dealer what a particular horse was worth, and his response was, \"Whatever a fool will pay.\" No truer words were ever spoken. But I couldn\'t do it...

[Birch Run Farm]

I do post photos in the BYC ameraucana forum but most people don\'t respond to them.  Which is fine.  I have sold hatching eggs and have happy customers who hatched some very pretty birds.  I get plenty of phone calls and emails from folks looking for eggs, pullets or hens.  

I think it is great that someone can get a big price for hatching eggs or birds.  They\'ve probably spent a lot of time and a few bucks working on their flock.  I certainly don\'t expect to sell eggs for that kind of money and I wouldn\'t pay it either.  

The difficult thing is the novices who see first of the season egg photos and then they buy eggs and get the bleached out results in the mail.  Egg shells rarely, in my experience, maintain high color intensity for very long.  They even fade over time sitting on the counter!

[crystalcreek]

Ann,
THANK YOU so much for posting those pics!!!!  I have the hardest time taking pics of these eggs!!!!  And I have a great camera but still can\'t ever get it right.  I take 20 pictures to show just how green/gray mine are, trying to be accurate.  I have pics that show them bluer than they actually look in person, but won\'t use them because I don\'t think they are accurate.  That was seriously enlightening, especially the marans eggs alongside.  Thank you!

[Birch Run Farm]

Now Crystal, you are my favorite photographer, at least you have talent with chicks!  I think your eggs pictured look very good.  The camera will balance the color better (I think) if you put them in a darker container and keep the brown carpet behind them.

I\'ll also add that on my computer at work which has a much bigger screen than my Dell laptop, these photos all look much better.  The color tones are nicer, overall.

[Beth C]

Now Crystal, you are my favorite photographer

I second that - if you weren\'t so far away, I would seriously pay you to take ad photos!

[crystalcreek]

I\'m blushing!  Get those chicks while they\'re very young.  If you take them fresh out of the incubator, they\'re still sticky and not fluffed up.  Better to wait one day.  Too old and they definately won\'t cooperate.  If you take a white background (I use an artificial piece of fleece) you can tape it to the wall behind a table and make a 90 degree angle and cover the table top too, just like at the photo studio where you take your kids (and grandkids, since I have a mixed audience   ).  When you plop that chick up there, he\'s going to freeze for 2 seconds because he\'s in a new environment.  Be ready!  If you do more than one at a time, you have to plop them up there all at the same time and take advantage of that 2 second freeze.  I take 50 pics for one shot, seriously.....the wonder of digital.  But I don\'t own a photoshopping program and nothing I do is adjusted for color or anything, just cropped with Paint down to the subject because they do move all over the place.  I like white for my lavs.  I would imagine black velvet would be stunning for some of the varieties y\'all have.  I even can do them indoors with decent success because unlike horses, dogs, cats, and people, you don\'t get red and green eye with the in camera flash.  Hope this helps.

[Birch Run Farm]

I\'d need to get a shutter button and put the camera on a tripod because all I get are blurry \'ghost\' chicks.  They run as soon as I set them down.  And poop too!